Monthly Archives: March 2013

Greg Satell and Tim Kastelle have been talking about whether or not innovation needs a purpose. While they agree on many points, today's articles offer two differing views on this question. We welcome all of your comments regarding "Does Innovation Need a Purpose?"

Greg Satell and I have been talking about whether or not innovation needs a purpose. While we agree on many points, we can see two differing views on the question. I will argue that within an organisation, innovation does need a purpose.

Innovation is ultimately about Return on Investment. A system of metrics will objectively show your progress and success each step of the way. It’s essential to follow a course of action that produces ongoing improvement, and sustainable and repeatable innovation. Innovation is meaningless without attaching measurable goals to an initiative.

You've had a brilliant, creative idea that you believe could become a breakthrough innovation. You've researched and modeled the idea's potential and believe it could generate substantial more revenues. So, you make a nice presentation emphasising the manifold benefits of your idea and present it to top management. You are convinced they will buy into your idea and are devastated when they reject it. What happened? How could they not be seduced by the benefits of your idea?